Global Campaigning, Free Stuff and Cute Cats
March 17, 2008 Posted by Andy in : Bristol, e-society, Technology, collaboration, Guest Bloggers , 1 comment so farRecently, I worked with the Global Campaign for Education, who promote education as a human right around the world. They are a coalition of NGOs and trade unions and they run the Global Action Week, which sees activity in 120 countries around the world. Last year, over 5 millon children took part in the campaign.
Action Week this year starts on the 27th April.
The main reason to mention them is to highlight an organisation that could not have existed in its current form only a few years ago. You can run a huge, credible global campaign on infrastructure that is basically free, but arguably as good as the systems being used by multinational companies. So if you wanted to start your own global campaign, I’d suggest three applications that could save you tens of thousands in annual running costs:
Gmail: Free email accounts, but also huge (huge) online storage capability which gives you a place to store files and back things up. With google apps, you can create a private intranet and website. The basic service is free (and good enough for most people).
Google News Alerts: This provides a media monitoring service comparable to expensive clipping services, especially if you’re looking for global coverage. This is free, too.
Skype: You don’t even need a phone. Skype’s free international calling and instant messaging can bring together groups from around the world. It’s also got free video conferencing.
On top of this core infrastructure you’ve also got all the social media applications like myspace, facebook, wordpress and the rest.
There’s a lot been written recently about “free” as a business model recently (mostly triggered by this article in Wired), but one of the consequences of this is that you don’t need to spend much money to organise a huge global campaign.
As I was writing this entry, I came across this interesting presentation by Ethan Zuckerman on “The Cute Cat theory of digital activism” that makes a similar point, but for a slightly different audience. It’s aimed at people who build web services and it argues that if you build free online social web tools, one of the tests of their usefulness is whether or not they are used by activists.
The internet is about more than just pictures of cute cats, as shown by this graphic:
He concludes:
If there’s a single message to the talk, it is that activists are going to use your tools if your tools are any good - watch them, pay attention to them, protect them and learn from them. They’ll make your tools better, and they’re one of the reasons to make social software in the first place.
It’s got loads of good international case studies in it as well. Well worth a read over your lunch.
Digital Inclusion Wales
March 14, 2008 Posted by julzswitch in : e-society, Events, Technology, Guest Bloggers , 2 commentsJust back from a trip across the big bridge to the Digital Inclusion Wales Conference held at the All Nations Centre in Cardiff. I was asked to go along and present on the subject of ICT-based social enterprises, and found out that of the 180 registered delegates, 80 had opted for this workshop! Fortunately Simon Berry from RuralnetUk was also hosting a workshop on the subject so I didn’t have all 80 at once. Hopefully that’s an indication of the growth of interest in social enterprise as good business model for ICT services in future.
One of the benefits of sitting in on the conference was the opportunity to hear some truly inspirational stories from projects being supported in Wales by the www.communitiesatone.org programme. One in particular I found both moving and entertaining, and that was Sharron Morris from Rhys Radio - a woman with a mission and someone who recognised every inch of the way how much she has learned and how she has supported others! Also Stephen Harmes from River Dee Community Church ICT Project - describing how engaging local people in a variety of ICT projects was helping to develop new activities and enterprise. I am keen to share both projects with other people in my work in South West - excellent case studies to inspire other people.
And so my week as guest blogger draws to a close. Thank you Connecting Bristol for the opportunity. Hopefully some readers have found it useful, informative and encouraging. Good luck to Andy Martin with next week’s blog - I will look forward to reading about his work with Cancer Research UK. You can keep on an eye on my work as Regional ICT Champion over on www.swict.wordpress.com and of course the day job which pays my wages over on www.cosmic.org.uk
Julie Harris, COSMIC
Announcing the Connecting Bristol Bloggers
March 11, 2008 Posted by Stephen Hilton in : Bristol, Technology, Guest Bloggers , 2 commentsBlogging creates a fantastic opportunity to experience the world through the words of others. It is also far easier to invite people to write stuff for you, rather than to do it all yourself! Therefore, we are delighted to announce that over the next two months, a series of Special Guest Bloggers will be contributing their views, thoughts and experiences of technology, innovation, digital inclusion and life, here on the Connecting Bristol Blog.
This is the line-up…
- 10th - 17th March, Julie Harris, South West Regional ICT Champion & Chief Executive at COSMIC - a leading social enterprise delivering ICT services to the voluntary and community sector. Read Julie’s first post here
- 18th - 23rd March, Andy Martin, Head of Strategy (Fundraising and Marketing) for Cancer Research UK and Director of Firetail, a strategy consulting and technology firm.
- 24th - 30th March, Makala Cheung, Press and Communications Officer at Knowle West Media Centre & local resident. Makala will be blogging live as the state-of-the-art and environmentally friendly new Knowle West Media Centre prepares to officially open. Makala says, “I work in the area I live in - Knowle West. I love that I can walk to work, feel connected to my local community, and I can tackle my work from a residents as well as workers perspective. I love the Media Centre, because it supports my personal and career growth and learning, just as it does for the community”
- 31st - 6th April, Stephen Coleman, Professor of Political Communication, University of Leeds. A world-renown commentator on e-democracy and Government, Stephen Coleman has spent many years exploring and writing about the relationship between digital media and citizenship. His new book ‘The Internet and Democratic Citizenship’, written with Jay Blumer, will be published by Cambridge University Press later this year. He argues that e-democracy calls for profound cultural as well as technological changes.
- 7th - 13th April, Jeff McWhinney, Director at SignVideo/Significan’t and former Chief Executive at the British Deaf Association. Jeff will also run a signing-video version of his blog (as long as Oliver can get the widget thing to work).
- 14th - 20thApril, George Kaloudis, MyKP, Australia’s leading community Wi-Fi provider
- 21st - 27th April, Pier Mucelli, Founder and Chief Executive of the award-winning e-Office
We look forward to seeing what our guests have to say. We have promised not to edit or meddle as long as they stay legal. We hope you find their contributions engaging.
Stephen
Making Computing Safer
November 20, 2007 Posted by Stephen Hilton in : Bristol, Events, Technology, Safety , 2 commentsCyber Security Knowledge Transfer Network in association with British Computer Society Security Forum and The Trusted Computing Project
Conference: 7th December 2007 BCS, 6 Southampton Street, London.
Invitation to:
Enabling trusted access to e-services – Making computing safer for the general public
• Is it possible to meet the needs of the public, SME’s and organisations that do not have access to skills needed to run IT systems securely?
• What are technology suppliers doing to simplify public use of computing?
• Does Linux and Free / Open Source software provide the basis for greater e-Inclusion?
The conference will explore ways in which the general public can be provided with computing that they can trust. Delegates will debate possible solutions based on both proprietary and Free / Open Source software and review the deployment and management of systems that could provide the general public with secure, trusted computing. The outcome will be a working group focusing on this very important issue and one that directly affects the safety and security of the UK’s citizens.
Delegates
There is no fee for this conference but places are limited. Register with kbarnett@QinetiQ.com by Friday 30th November 2007 and advise her of any dietary or accessibility requirements you have.
For further information contact:
Nigel Jones, Director, Cyber Security KTN. Email: NAJONES1@qinetiq.com
Andrea Simmons, BCS, Email: andrea.simmons@bcs.org
